Nutrition: Living a Healthy Life
Anatomy and Physiology Project
Fats
• Includes transfats, polysaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats,
monounsaturated fats, and cholesterol
• Functions: Needed to repair and make new cell membranes, mylein
sheath around nerve axons needed to conduct nerve impulses, energy
storage, cushioning, steroid making, make chemicals for natural pain relief,
absorb fat soluble vitamins, add flavor and fullness etc. (You need fat – it
isn’t all bad!)
• Can get fats by eating them or turning excess sugars into fats
• Two types of fats are essential – meaning the body cannot get them from
converting another molecule into them. These are omega 3 and omega 6
fatty acids
• Sources of each fat type will be covered under each type of fat
• Fat and cholesterol have been blamed for heart disease (still #1 killer in
U.S. – however some fats are to blame and some are protective)
• Note that all foods containing fats usually contain a mix of the different
types but have one type in most abundance. For example: Butter is 62%
polysaturated fat and 29% monosaturated fat, whereas, olive oil has 14%
polysat., 74% monounsaturated, 8% polyunsaturated
Good Fats vs. Bad Fats
• Transfats are BAD
• Polysaturated Fats are generally bad and
shouldn’t be eaten in large quantities
• Polyunsaturated Fats are good and necessary and
Omega 3’s are essential and really good and not
eaten much by most Americans
• Monounsaturated Fats are also good
• Eating too much of any fat can lead to too much
fat storage but try replacing saturated fats with
unsaturated fats
• Excess sugars eaten turn into polysaturated fats
which are bad
New Thoughts on Heart Disease
• Fats and cholesterol have been blamed for clogged arteries but..
• Worst types of heart attacks caused by clogs of fat and immune
cells that break off suddenly, move thru blood and clog of an artery.
These “clogs” are mostly caused by an inflammatory response to
the fat that isn’t supposed to be there
• Saturated fats create inflammation, unsaturated in most cases
prevent it
• Inflammation also can lead to cancer, insulin resistance which
causes diabetes, and maybe a host of other diseases like
Alzheimer’s
• Inflammation is an immune response that is necessary to kill
bacteria and viruses but also is activated by stress, being
overweight, and clogs in artery walls
Inflammation a major cause of heart
attacks
Inflammatory Response
Trans Fats
Now thought to be the most unhealthy of all fats
Should limit to less than 1% of your diet to be healthy
• Transfats –These are artificially hydrogenated
vegetable oils
• Found in most fast fried foods, processed foods, and
restaurant foods – has a longer shelf life
• Fries, chicken nuggets, fried fish burgers, pies,
danishes, pancakes, donuts, margarine, regular veggie
oils
• Transfats increase LDL (bad cholesterol) & decrease
HDL (good cholesterol) so probably increase the risk of
heart attacks
• Leads to weight gain faster than other fats
• Transfats also increase inflammation – possibly leading
to heart disease, cancer, asthma, diabetes
Polysaturated Fats
• Since they are straight chains and fully hydrogenated, they
pack together better and are thicker and stickier in the
blood, more dense, and contain more energy than unsat.
Good if you need lots of energy because you are extremely
active but if not build up to make you overweight and stick
to arteries causing clogs
• Linked to heart disease and diabetes
• Found in animal products: meat, cheese, whole milk, egg
yolks, sour cream, ice cream, butter, most junk food like
cookies, candy, cakes, etc.
• Also found in some plant products – coconut oil and milk,
cocoa butter, palm kernel oil – find these in chocolate, nondairy whipped toppings, coffee creamers
Structure of Saturated vs. Unsaturated
Fats
Saturated Fats
Average Americans eat 25.5 g of saturated
fat/day
Should eat 5-10 g less per day
Ways to reduce Saturated Fat Intake:
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Eat less red meat/more fish
Remove skin from chicken
Use canola and olive oil
Flavor with spices instead of sauces
Substitute lower fat versions of dairy
Increase fruit, veg, whole grain intake
Polyunsaturated Fats
• Polyunsaturated Fats eaten can be used for energy but seem to be used to
repair membranes, prevent heart disease and diabetes, cut cancer risk,
cut risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s, prevent or decrease depression,
decrease inflammation, and are needed to create natural pain killers
• Omega 3’s are not eaten much by Americans and are the best at fighting
inflammation etc.
• Omega 3’s are found in fish oil of cold water fish like salmon, albacore
tuna, lake trout, Atlantic Mackerel. They are also found in walnuts and flax
seeds and flax oil.
• Omega 6’s are polyunsat. but actually are needed to cause inflammation.
Your immune system needs them to work but too much makes too much
inflammation. They also oxidize or harden clogs making them worse. We
do get a lot of them in food we generally eat and don’t need a lot. Cutting
back a little on these is good. They are found in safflower oil, turkey,
walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, chicken, and corn oil.
Monounsaturated Fats
• Prevent heart disease, help stabilize blood
sugar, help lose weight, reduce risk of cancer
• Find in olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil and
peanut butter, and avocadoes
Comparing Types of Fat in Cooking Oils
Cholesterol
• Found in high fat dairy, egg yolk, shellfish, high
fat meats, poultry skin
• Needed to stabilize cell membranes, make all
steroid hormones (estrogen, progesterone,
testosterone), makes cortisol, bile
• Your liver makes it – if eat extra, you should
make less – problems arise when overwhelm
homeostasis or something is wrong with
homeostatic mechanism
Conclusion about Fats
• Need fats for many things and some fatty acids (omega
3 and 6) are essential and must be eaten in that form
or you won’t get them
• Since fats stores a lot of energy, if eat too much of any
kind, you will store extra as saturated fat which clogs
arteries, strains the heart, and increases inflammation.
This includes all fat we make when we eat excess carbs
that we don’t burn
• Replacing bad fats with good fats and keeping them
to a reasonable level with probably increase your life
and keep you healthier
Protein
• Protein is needed to build muscle, make enzymes, protein channels,
marker proteins, clotting proteins, messengers and receptors, antibodies,
bones, hair, nails, skin, teeth, etc.
• They are the main structural parts of our bodies and make everything
happen because we couldn’t do any chemical reactions without them, we
couldn’t signal anything to happen without them, we couldn’t control
what moves in or out of cells, our immune systems wouldn’t work, etc.
• Protein is found mostly in: meat, cheese, soy, nuts, eggs, dairy, seeds, and
tofu
• If you don’t get all 20 amino acids, you can’t build all of your proteins.
Eight amino acids are essential (you can’t make them in your body from
other amino acids and so have to be eaten as is) Veggie sources of
proteins don’t always contain all the essential amino acids so vegetarians
must get a mix of grains, corn, and beans to make sure they get all 20 a.a.
• Myth: Eating tons of extra protein will bulk you up. If you don’t have
enough a.a. you can’t build muscle, however having extra doesn’t make
you make extra muscle – this is signaled by weight bearing exercise and
testosterone
• If you are growing and or actively building extra muscle, you do need more
protein than someone who is not growing
Carbohydrates
• Main energy source but if eaten in large quantities, will
be stored as fat (some fat storage is good and
necessary)
• Carbs can be found in all fruits, vegetables, grains, but
also found in all flour products (cakes, cookies, etc.),
pasta, rice, cereals, etc.
• “junk carbs” didn’t exist in the human diet until
recently and many people have most of their diet
composed of these. The human digestive system isn’t
adapted to utilizing these properly.
• Natural carbs usually contain good sources of vitamins
and fiber
• Fiber is a carb but is indigestible and bulks up the feces
to make bowels move better and slows the absorption
or sugar
Good carbs vs. bad carbs
• The main idea is that good carbs provide energy by slowly raising blood
sugar so that it can be absorbed by cells at the right rate. Good carbs also
don’t cause an inflammatory response.
• Remember that inflammation is linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
dimentia etc.
• Shooting up blood sugar too quickly causes an over production of insulin
which causes cells to take up sugar too quickly which then causes blood
sugar to go too low stimulating hunger and shakiness. This continued
process leads to being overweight and becoming diabetic.
• Carbs that are absorbed slowly usually have a good source of fiber which
slows the absorption. Whole fruits and vegetables and whole grains have
this. Whole wheat and junk food, and potatoes all absorb very quickly and
are bad. (whole wheat is not same as whole grain! But better than white)
• The amount a carb shoots up the blood sugar is called the Glycemic Index
(GI). The higher the GI, the faster your blood sugar increases and the
more unhealthy the carb is for you.
• If your carb source is not a fruit or veggie, you will look up the GI on the
internet which has charts. The GI is only for foods that contain a
significant amount of carbs
Carbohydrate Conclusion
• The more active you are the more carbs you need
• Even if you are couch potato, you need carbs for
basic muscle movements, brain functions,
chemical reactions etc., but you should eat less
carbs
• Choose good carbs – fruits, veggies, and whole
grains
• Bad carbs are not only usually higher in calories
which make us overweight but cause
inflammation and diabetes, and a host of other
problems
High Fructose Corn Syrup is not
Natural
• HFCS is extracted from corn and then ½ of the
glucose is converted to fructose
• Created in 1975 (systems not adapted for it)
• Fructose is sweeter and activates the pleasure
centers of the brain more and makes it more
addictive and makes people crave it
• Fructose is not under the same regulation as
glucose in cellular respiration so it messes up
the control mechanisms of energy burning
Vitamins
• Act as coenzymes which are needed for many normal
chemical reactions
• Act as anti-oxidants which scavenge free radicals which
are chemicals missing electrons. Free radicals are
formed from normal body functions and need to be
gotten rid of. If not, they steal electrons from other
molecules damaging them. This damages DNA and
proteins making many things not work right.
• Many believe that having plenty of anti-oxidants is the
key to preventing cancer
• Best sources of vitamins are fruits and veggies
What does each vitamin do?
What foods are high in each vitamin?
• http://kidshealth.org/teen/misc/vitamin_chart.html
• Go to the link above and it has a chart of the major
vitamins, what they are needed for, what foods they are
found in, and how much of each vitamin is necessary for
teenagers.
Overall Conclusion
• People that keep their weight down, avoid
saturated fats, and eat lots of fruits and
vegetables live longer!
• All of things listed above reduce inflammation
which seems to be a major factor in most
diseases plaguing modern society.
• Processed foods are less nutritious and
contain more sodium, sugars, saturated fat,
and transfats. Flavorization also causes
pleasure centers to become addicted.